“Chris Christie, Jeb Bush or Condeleeza Rice would be home-run choices for running mate. Each is a personality and, ironically, Americans seem more comfortable with each than they are with Romney. Each is more moderate and mainstream than the average GOPer and would appeal to the political centre while help deliver women and minorities, constituencies the far right has consistently alienated.”

“Did Romney and Walesa discuss putting down strikes? That’s highly doubtful, but then the closing scene of Animal Farm was not a political discussion, but a card game, a sort of ritual to bring the pigs and the humans into a cosmic alliance against the other animals.”

“An outpouring of concern about the pipeline at the heart of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s energy strategy has reached unprecedented levels, evolving in only a few months from a regional environmental concern to a source of national friction.

For Harper, who even during five years of minority government managed to drive forward with his main policy goals, the upsurge of opposition to Northern Gateway may prove the ultimate test of his ability to assert and control Canada’s agenda.”

“You want to see a grouchy prime minister? Imagine him fighting the next election having seen two crucial projects, both worth billions to the economy, both centred in his adopted home of Alberta, stymied by forces beyond his control. Add in the potential of a Parti Quebecois government in Quebec, determined to pick a fight that will thoroughly tick off English Canadians, and which just might take its cue from Ms. Clark’s effort to hold Alberta to ransom.”

“It can’t be lost on anyone that the dollars needed to exploit Canada’s oil and gas reserves, not to mention build the necessary infrastructure to upgrade everything from pipelines to transmission lines, requires foreign capital; continued uncertainty could see that capital find a home elsewhere.”

“It will take a few days for a “Duchesneau effect” on voting intentions to show up in the polls.

But with the candidacies of potential ministers such as Duchesneau and Dr. Gaétan Barrette, former spokesperson for the province’s medical specialists, the CAQ starts to look less like a third party and more like a potential government.

That will help fundraising for a party so poor it says it can’t afford an English website and sells nominations like doughnut-shop franchises, with the most promising locations going for $25,000 in contributions raised.”

“The public mood is dark and unforgiving. On the corruption issue, it couldn’t be more unfavourable to the reputation of established parties, the Parti Québécois included. That’s why Duchesneau’s candidacy is a particular blow to the PQ, and any hopes that it had of owning the corruption issue.”

“So the Pequistes find themselves trying to start a fight with a government that is already largely on side. Given that Harper is more than willing to leave the provinces to themselves, the PQ is forced to start demanding more powers as it tries to get an argument going.”

“Perhaps it is a good sign that the PQ has become so desperate: If separatism were not unpopular, Ms. Marois would not have to blow her nativist dog whistle. Nevertheless, it is frightening to think of Ms. Marois as Quebec premier. And one hopes that her campaign video will provide a rallying point for the more progressive-minded voters, of all languages and backgrounds, who find her tactics unappetizing.”

“The real legacy of the War of 1812 is that it helped set the stage for a regional security community. Hardly stirring stuff, but, if you look around the world today, you will quickly realize just how rare a thing ours is. And it is a thing very much worth celebrating.”